November, 2009

Experience / Game Design — No Comments
27
Nov 09

Bad developer! No cookie! #1

Designing a game can’t be easy, but there are some things that are simply unforgivable.

redstormrisingBack when Tom Clancy worked with MicroProse on Red Storm Rising in the late ’80s he made a passing comment that once they were finished, they’d never need to create another submarine game again.  Because, after all, it was all just bits and rules – get it right once, and it’ll be perfect forever.  The developers laughed at his naïveté (behind closed doors, I assume – you don’t laugh at a guy with NSA-level connections to his face), but in hindsight, he was probably right: Red Storm Rising, despite all its graphical limitations, is still one of the best submarine games ever created.

In my ongoing (if somewhat sporadic) attempt to explore a new genre, I’ve come to the conclusion that MLB 09: The Show is arguably the closest thing to a “perfect” baseball game out there.  Pitchers change their stance based on the ball they’re throwing, there’s about twelve different ways you can steal bases (right down to being able to slide left or right on your personal approach), and statistics really do mean something throughout the game.  Unfortunately, none of that was worth much to me when I couldn’t even reliably hit a ball, much less understand what the hell the game was telling me when it threw up pages of statistics on team, player, and season performance with no reference or assistance. Continue reading →

Culture / Experience — No Comments
18
Nov 09

Sometimes games aren’t fun

demons-souls

You’d think that playing a game isn’t meant to be hard work.

And yet here I sit for yet another night, unwilling or unable to play any further through Demon’s Souls, MLB 09: The Show, Pathologic, or The Witcher. They’re all good games – in their own way, excellent ones.  And, Harry’s challenges notwithstanding, it’s not that I’m distracted or have some sort of collection compulsion.  So why is it that I can’t stomach the thought of loading them up? Continue reading →

Culture — 7 Comments
16
Nov 09

Modern Warfare’s hollow victory

modern-warfare2

Two years ago, I was first in line to praise the mature sentiment of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Things have changed.

(The following contains strong spoilers for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.)

Almost two years ago, I wrote in praise of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

The game was, I suggested, about as close to an anti-war first-person shooter a videogame could get. Despite its surface of gung-ho militarism, there was a definite undercurrent of thoughtfulness.

Modern Warfare illustrated clear motivations for terrorists. It was hardly a simple case of ‘us versus them’. Things were difficult, things were complex. Our modern lexicon of images relating to the War on Terrorism was invoked, and twisted into a clever alternate meaning. War, said Modern Warfare, is not good. War, said Infinity Ward, is never good.

And despite the consequence-less appeal of multiplayer, and the cries of Infinity Ward wanting to have their non-violent cake and eat their violent fun too, I was able to argue that Modern Warfare held deeper meaning. In short, I was able to reconcile myself with the game; I was able to accept the images presented on the assumption that a greater and more important point lay underneath.

I am unable to do this with Modern Warfare 2. Continue reading →

Culture / Industry — 12 Comments
12
Nov 09

Spoiler Warning

They’re not ruining your life, our country, or anyone’s complexion. Just meaningful discussion about videogames.

Admit it. You were scared to read past the heading, that ever-familiar bolded six-letter signpost taunting your trust. It wasn’t so long ago that I would have felt the same. Covering my ears whenever someone even hinted at rolling out a verbal storyboard of a game’s content. But I’ve discovered that most of the tidbits of knowledge that have dis-affectionately been labelled as spoilers, are in fact nothing of the sort. And not only that but, hiding most of this knowledge away from each other takes away from what we could get out of our games rather than holding it safe.

More than fans of any other medium, videogame players fear even the most inconsequential of information being passed on, in case their premier playthroughs are affected in even the most minuscule of ways.

If you haven’t read Romeo and Juliet you should probably tune out for couple of sentences while I spoil the ending for you. Continue reading →